Las Vegas: Dominick Muermans race notes

STRONG CHAMPCAR ATLANTIC DEBUT FOR MUERMANS IN LAS VEGAS!
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 08 APRIL 2007 -- On the Las Vegas street circuit
Dominick Muermans impressed in his Champcar Atlantic race. Muermans had a
great race in which he overtook a lot of...

STRONG CHAMPCAR ATLANTIC DEBUT FOR MUERMANS IN LAS VEGAS!

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, 08 APRIL 2007 -- On the Las Vegas street circuit
Dominick Muermans impressed in his Champcar Atlantic race. Muermans had a
great race in which he overtook a lot of other drivers, until he hit the
stalled car of Swiss driver De Silvestro three laps before the end of the
race. The crash resulted in damaged rear wheel suspension, immediately
ending his race. Eventually he was classified in sixteenth place. The
Jensen MotorSport driver was able to score 5 points for the championship
in the opening round of the 2007 season. In the 'Rookie of the Year'
Cup Muermans is now tenth.

Muermans had an unfortunate start of his weekend. He was forced to
abandon his first qualifying run after brushing the tyre walls. After
Muermans had a decent practice session on Saturday morning, he never had
the chance to improve his starting position during the final qualifying.
In the session the 22-year old driver tried to set a quick lap time but
he had to abort his flying lap no less than four times because of red
flag situations caused by other drivers. With a 24th time (1:34.835) he
ended up on the twelfth row on the grid.

On Sunday afternoon Muermans had a good start of his Champcar Atlantic
race. He immediately gained four places and was already seventeenth after
completing the first lap. The race was marred by a lot of crashes, which
meant more time was spent behind the safety car than on a 'green' track
during the 50 minutes the race lasted. Muermans managed to avoid the
crashes and climbed up into twelfth place. On lap thirteen there was a
huge crash, but once again Muermans was able to get through without a
scratch, putting his car inside the top 10. In the last lap things went
wrong though. Muermans was told via the on-board radio that a car in
front of him had spun. He slowed down but even though he missed the
stranded car of Simona de Silvestro with the front of his car, the rear
side of Swift 016. a slipped away onto De Silvestro's car. Muermans
dropped back to sixteenth place as a result. Despite the accident
Muermans is looking back at an exciting race weekend.

DOMINICK MUERMANS: "I drove a steady race, keeping out of the crashes.
It is therefore a shame that I had to give up so close to the end,
because I could have finished in ninth place. It was a super cool
weekend! I have learned a lot here in this Las Vegas race. I found out
you have to drive 'with your head', while in Europe you mainly have to
push to get a decent result. I see this first of three Champcar Atlantic
races as a really good preparation for my Formula Master season. I will
be staying in Las Vegas for a couple of days to work-out with Robert
Doornbos and my trainer Nick before travelling to Long Beach. I am
looking forward to that race!"